Unified Silla, Parhae, and the Later Three Kingdoms

Authoritarian Monarchy and the Rise of Powerful Local Gentry

Silla’s Victories

defeated Kaya 532, 562 defeated Paekche in 660

defeated Koguryŏ in 668

expelled T’ang in 676

“Later” or “Unified” Silla

Parhae – Tae Choyŏng (former general of Koguryŏ) established– Koguryŏ people and Malgal (tribes in northeast Asia)– Koguryŏ people were ruling class and regarded their

state as representing a revival of Koguryŏ– International Position:

• Strong pressure from Tang China and remained hostile toward Tang

• Confrontation with Silla: Silla built a defensive wall in northern frontier in 721

• End of 8th Century: changes in diplomatic relation– Both Silla and Parhae came to establish peaceful relation

with Tang China and Japan• economic exchange: Tang’s tributary system• cultural borrowing: imported books and art works, students

went to China to study Buddhism and Confucianism

Parhae Culture: Tang China and Koguryŏ

– Government structure and institutional features: adopted Tang system

– tomb architecture: Koguryŏ– Buddhist statue at Parhae temple, roof ending tile

decoration: Koguryŏ– Culture: advanced, ‘flourishing land in the East’

(Chinese historian)– Ethnic division: weakness

Khitan attacked Parhae (Bohai) and fell in 926

Political Structure of Unified Silla• Establishing authority of the throne

– Purge of leading figures– Create political and military institutions that

royal power might effectively be exercised– The throne and head-rank six found common

cause against the true-bone– Men of head-rank six: studying abroad in

Tang China, deeper learning and insight

Decline of Silla and Rise of Powerful Local Gentry

• Decline of Silla– 20 kings in 150 years– Aristocracy’s resistance => form private army– Men of head-rank six: studying abroad in

Tang China, deeper learning and insight– Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn (857-?): passed the Tang Civil

service examination and held official position in Tang, suggested reform => denial

Decline of Silla &Rise of Powerful Local Gentry

– Political participation at the central government level blocked by the bone-rank system

=> attention to maritime trade with China and Japan => economic and military power

– Leading gentry houses built fortifications around the population centers => “castle lords”

– Signaled weakening of central government and aristocracy

Chang Pogo (d. 846)

- Ch’ŏnghae Garrison on Wando, had 10,000 soldiers

- Military and commercial success in Silla and T’ang China

- Helped enthrone king, wanted to marry daughter to another king

- Video

Hardship of peasants

– Life of Commoners• Impoverishment (exhausted warfare)• Grain tax, corvee service• Census system in 755: every three years

– Population– Numbers of cattle, horses, mulberry, nut bearing pine,

walnut trees, and the area of different types of land (paddy fields, dry fields, hemp fields, etc)

– Number of able-bodied adults: to provide compulsory labor services

– Commoners and Peasant revolts

“Song of Ch’ŏyong”, 879

Having caroused far into the night

In the moonlit capital,I returned home and in my

bed,Behold, four legs.

Two were mine;Whose are the other two?Formerly two were mine;What shall be done now

they are taken?

Cheoyong Dance

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz38uVwbuZc